Flower Duet from Lakme

Okay, kids. Rush on over to your piano and begin to play. I adore this music. Translation below.

Here are the lyrics in English:

Under the thick dome where the white jasmine
With the roses entwined together
On the river bank covered with flowers laughing in the morning
Let us descend together!
Gently floating on its charming risings,
On the river’s current
On the shining waves,
One hand reaches,
Reaches for the bank,
Where the spring sleeps,
And the bird, the bird sings.
Under the thick dome where the white jasmine
Ah! calling us
Together!
Under the thick dome where white jasmine
With the roses entwined together
On the river bank covered with flowers laughing in the morning
Let us descend together!
Gently floating on its charming risings,
On the river’s current
On the shining waves,
One hand reaches,
Reaches for the bank,
Where the spring sleeps,
And the bird, the bird sings.
Under the thick dome where the white jasmine
Ah! calling us
Together!

And now for something completely different

As ImmortalSlipper said in the comments at YouTube:"Was getting bored with music. Then this came out." I like it. Alt-J: Something Good.

Popey guy sways to musical strain

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his gratitude after a concert of sacred music by Vivaldi and Verdi conducted by maestro Riccardo Muti at the Vatican.

...Muti kissed the pope's hand before Benedict handed him a red box with a pontifical medal.

...Napolitano gave the pope an 18th-century violin.

It must be wonderful to be the Queen.

The shape of what isn't there

My hippie rant image.

You know us hippies -- we like nothing more than pondering the imponderable -- preferably in the evening with candles and music. So here we go.

A long time ago, I had a good friend who was a music composer. One day I asked him about a perception I experienced while listening to music. It seemed to me that some composers wrote a sort of stealth music, where the true melody wasn't played. Instead it was described by the music that was played. I thought I heard the music dance around a hidden melody, hinting at it without revealing it. Finding it, hearing it, seemed to be up to the listener. He just looked at me like I was nuts.